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The Endangered List

Jose Theater 1904­ 64 S. Second St., San Jose When retired art professor John DeVincenzi, 76, was a kid, he walked from his home at 12th and Margaret to the Jose to see a cartoon, newsreel, vaudeville show and movie, all in one afternoon and all for a nickel. On the way home, he and his friends John and Louis Figone, Lester Cuneo and Chuck Casazza sometimes stopped at Coney Island Restaurant for one of their "world's biggest" hot dogs. The boys got to see Neil Sullivan and his orchestra, Harry Houdini, Fatty Arbuckle and great Westerns with Jean Autry and Tom Mix. But soon, the Jose's life as a theater may finally come to an end. The City Council votes Aug. 5 on whether to save the oldest theater in San Jose or tear out its insides for a 124-unit housing development. The Preservation Action Council commissioned a study to show that the historic Jose can coexist profitably with housing, and the Planning Commission recommended against tearing it down. [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]